The Birth of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church

On the eighth of March of this year, thirty-six of us who are professed and baptized believers of Christ affirmed each other and covenanted to walk together as a church in professed subjection to all gospel ordinances. (The approved members of our new congregation are thirty-seven, but one of our ladies gave birth a couple of weeks before the date of the covenanting and so was not able to attend). Despite some sad events leading to our church formation, we witnessed the hand of God guiding us in His Word, the Spirit, and providence through the months when we were deliberating our constituting as a church. The covenanting ceremony was presided by Redeemed by Grace Baptist Church, being the church that advised and gave oversight to us through their pastor, Diego Bulatao. Twelve Reformed Baptist churches in total, with officers and members, were officially represented to extend their right hand of Christian fellowship to us. Twelve elders from among these churches were present who also took part in the laying of hands upon Bro. Joseph Mangahas who was unanimously elected by our congregation to be our first pastor.

A New Meeting Place

Since September of last year, we had been gathering in a commercial space leased to one of our members for his business uses. While sharing this space had its challenges, we were spared some expenses for the first six months of our gathering together. However, the property owner who leases to our member recently informed him that we could not use the space anymore for religious purposes. That week, we had to search for a place to gather for the upcoming Lord’s Day. We found an available function room in a hotel around a business center in Cainta, Rizal. The Lord has been pleased to grant us favor with the hotel’s management. We secured a six-month contract for the use of one of their function rooms every Sunday at a discounted price. This new place is more accessible to the majority of our members and also provides many conveniences as we gather for worship.

Please pray that the Lord would provide for us to meet these new financial needs as a church. Pray also that He would open opportunities and set providential appointments for us to be able to share the gospel around our new locality.

New and Growing Families

The early months of this year already came with joyful blessings from the Lord for the families of our church. Two young couples met their first babies; two more young couples are anticipating the birth of their firstborn. We have been meeting online every Thursday evening to go through John and Cindy Racquet’s book “Purposeful and Persistent Parenting.” There are also two members who married together last twentieth of March. Another couple are scheduled to be married on the month of May.

Please pray that the Lord would establish and grow these young families in His gospel of grace and according to His precepts.

The Ministry of the Word

The labor of the ministry of the Word falls mainly to Pastor Joseph. He has been taking the congregation through the Book of Nehemiah, carefully drawing from its narrative Christ-centered lessons on the church’s spiritual reformation. For our Bible class, he is teaching on the Lord’s Supper, looking at it on biblical, historical, and practical perspectives. Two other men, Jesse Torres and Ismael Jugo, alternate once a month to preach also in the church. These men, joined by some others, meet once a week to discuss Pastor Al Martin’s volumes on Pastoral Theology.

Joseph is also involved in the training of men for the pastoral ministry at Grace Ministerial Academy, a ministry of Cubao Reformed Baptist Church. Jesse visits a prison to evangelize inmates on a weekly basis.

Pray that the Lord would bless these labors with the spiritual fruits of sinners’ conversion and the maturing of the saints. Pray also for the Lord to raise up men in our midst to qualify for and fill the offices of the church. Pray for the church’s wisdom as we recognize those gifts of Christ to us